Bible Commentaries
Psalms 134

Introduction

THE BENEDICTION FOR THE PILGRIM SONGS

Just as each of the Five Books of the Psalter ends with a doxology, this Little Psalter of Fifteen Psalms likewise ends with this benediction, which in some ways corresponds to a doxology.

Verses 1-3

“Behold, bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, That by night stand in the house of Jehovah. Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, And bless ye Jehovah. Jehovah bless thee out of Zion; Even he that made heaven and earth.”

“Behold, bless ye Jehovah” “`Behold’ is a word which usually draws attention to something that is liable to be overlooked.”^(F1) Certainly, the obligation of God’s people to bless his holy name and to offer thanks and prayers to him continually is just such a thing that is easy to overlook, neglect and omit in the hustle and bustle of every day life. However, it was the neglect of this very common duty that precipitated the judicial hardening of all mankind in the pre-Christian era.

“Knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). Note the brief words, “Neither gave thanks.”

“All ye servants of Jehovah” This phrase may be understood, either as the Levites keeping the night vigil in the Temple, or as the “community at worship.”^(F2) Either meaning could be correct. All depends upon what the situation here actually is. If the scene is that of a group of pilgrims arriving at night before the Temple and addressing the Levites on night duty there, then the words refer to the Levites. The second half of the verse, appears to favor that meaning.

“That by night stand in the house of Jehovah” The Temple was never left without its full contingent of Levites and priests. The company of pilgrims arriving at night would have been welcomed.

If that is the case, the words “Bless ye, Jehovah” would carry the same meaning as “Pray to Jehovah on our behalf.”

“Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless ye Jehovah” This may have been the invitation of the Levitical contingent in the temple to the night-arrivals for them to begin the worship service. “Lifting up the hands” was a gesture associated with praying from the very earliest times. Dahood tells us that the custom of “lifting up the hands toward heaven” in worship “was customary among the Canaanites,”^(F3) even before the conquest by Israel.

“Jehovah bless thee out of Zion” Throughout the Old Testament, the blessings of God are represented as coming “out of Zion”; a truth that in the New Dispensation appears in the affirmation that “all spiritual blessings” are in Christ and become available to mankind only through him and “in him.”

“Bless thee” This word was viewed by Kidner as the key to the whole passage. Whereas, it is God who is blessed in the first lines, the reverse appears here, where it is man who receives the blessing, “To bless God is to acknowledge gratefully what He is; but to bless man, God must make of him what he is not, and give him what he has not.”^(F4)

The pattern of all Old Testament blessings is that of Aaron given in Numbers 6:24 ff.

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

“Even he that made heaven and earth” This concludes this brief psalm. “The worshippers will leave enriched and strengthened, with the invocation of divine blessing ringing in their ears.”^(F5) “This Psalm is a fitting conclusion to the Psalms of Ascents.”^(F6)